New study finds parental domestic violence in childhood linked to mental illness in adulthood
Stress
A study conducted by the University of Toronto has stated that adults exposed to chronic parental domestic violence have more chances of suffering from anxiety, depression and substance abuse disorder
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These adults also have a lower level of social support than their peers who do not experience such adversity in childhood.
The findings of the study were published in the 'Journal of Family Violence'.The study found that one-fifth (22.5 per cent) of adults who were exposed to chronic parental domestic violence during childhood developed a major depressive disorder at some point in their life.
This was much higher than the 9.1 per cent of those without a history of parental domestic violence.
"Our findings underline the risk of long-term negative outcomes of chronic domestic violence for children, even when the children themselves are not abused," said author Esme Fuller-Thomson, Director of University of Toronto`s Institute for Life Course and Aging at the University of Toronto and Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW).
"Social workers and health professionals must work vigilantly to prevent domestic violence and to support both survivors of this abuse and their children," added Fuller-Thomson.
The study says Parental domestic violence (PDV) often occurs in the context of other adversities, including childhood physical and sexual abuse, making it challenging to examine the mental health outcomes associated solely with parental domestic violence in the absence of childhood abuse.
To address this problem, the authors excluded anyone in their study who had experienced childhood physical or sexual abuse.
The study's nationally representative sample ultimately included 17,739 respondents from the Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health, of whom 326 reported having witnessed PDV more than 10 times before age 16, which was defined as `chronic PDV`.
One in six adults (15.2 per cent) who had experienced chronic PDV reported that they later developed an anxiety disorder.
Only 7.1 per cent of those who had not been exposed to parental violence also reported experiencing an anxiety disorder at some point in their life.
"Many children who are exposed to their parent`s domestic violence remain constantly vigilant and perpetually anxious, fearful that any conflict may escalate into assault. Therefore, it is not surprising that decades later, when they are adults, those with a history of PDV have an elevated prevalence of anxiety disorders," said co-author Deirdre Ryan-Morissette.
More than one-quarter of adults (26.8 per cent) who were exposed to chronic PDV in childhood developed substance use disorders, compared to 19.2 per cent of those without exposure to this early adversity.
The findings were not all negative, though. More than three in five adult survivors of chronic PDV were in excellent mental health, free from any mental illness, substance dependence or suicidal thoughts in the preceding year; we were happy and/or satisfied with their life and reported high levels of social and psychological well-being, despite their exposure to such harrowing experiences in childhood.
(With agency inputs)
